I also collect Hot Wheels. That collecting community deals with the same corporate strategy that we do. Retail wackies are aimed at 8 year olds just like retail Hot Wheels are. Hot Wheels collectors want Muscle/ Classic cars and at retail they find vehicles shaped like dinosaurs with glow in the dark wheels. Mattel still offers collectors cars they want at premium prices via their web site. Topps will continue to offer Collector boxes with chase items designed to make collectors happy and occasionally sets like Old School via their site. We just need to understand that collectors probably account for 40 percent of brand sales and kids for 60 percent.
I agree that kids will not appreciate Political Wackies in the the 50th set ; but Topps probably reasoned that their adult collectors would love that subset. So of the 10 subsets in the retail boxes 2 may be intended for collectors: Political and 50th Anniversary. The other 8 are great for the 8 year olds: Cereal, Movies, TV, Pop Culture, Apps, Video Games, Music and Celebrities. Throw in Old School in the Collector Boxes and you have all your bases covered if you are Topps. So when I judge this set I look at the cards in the Political, Anniversary and Old School sets as meant for me. That's 28 cards which is what we used to get in a Wacky Release back in the day. Of those 28 I like about half of them so that's good enough for me. Thanks Topps.
Andrew
Andrew,
I respect what you have to say, and I know from reading your many of your previous posts that you hold Wackys in high esteem.
I suppose that I should be grateful for even one new Wacky, and that I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. However I cannot help but to think that Topps could have done much better with the 50th Anniversary set. It is, after all, an anniversary, and I believe Topps should have pushed the envelope in light of this fact.
I think everyone reading this post would have to agree that some of the artwork is "lacking in quality." This didn't have to be, however. And for the life of me, I can't see how Topps justified this, anniversary or no anniversary.
As far as the political/current events go, haven't we (the adults who've been paying high prices) already had our fill? Moreover, I doubt that many will understand and/or appreciate the humor in these pieces five years from now, let alone fifty. Many of the satires are based upon impetuous comments that are shocking when first uttered, but hardly ground-shaking or even worth committing to memory.
You may prefer muscle cars to dinosaur cars and understandably so (and, personally, so would I.) But at least dinosaurs are universal. I understand them. Great-grandparents understand them. Kids understand them. I don't, however, understand some of the humor in subsets such as Pop Culture, Apps, and Music and Celebrities, though. I suppose, ultimately, I can blame this entirely upon my own ignorance. At the same time, though, they don't exactly pack much of a punch, either. As with most current events, they are largely here today, gone tomorrow, consigned to and left forgotten in the dustbins of history. There is nothing really iconic about them, and up until recently, that is what Wackys have been about. "I think, by and large, when a Wacky Package parody was successful in the past, it was based upon a well-known (if not iconic) bit of consumer goods packaging, something most everyone could picture and knew." This quote is from a fellow forum member, and I would have to say that I agree with him. In my opinion, the current event genres just don't cut the mustard (though they may cut the cheese.) For the most part, they can't - simply because current event items need time to become well-known and iconic - if they ever become well-known and iconic. However, then they are no longer current events.
You mentioned the statistics of 40% collectors and 60% kids, yet of the 10 subsets in the retail boxes, 2 (or 20%) may be intended for collectors and the remaining 8 (80%) for kids - and this does indeed appear to be the case. The first pair of percents, however, doesn't match the second pair. So I can see why some collectors - myself included - might feel short-changed and somewhat disappointed with what we view as a lackluster set. Again, remember that this wasn't just supposed to be just another retail release, but an anniversary release - something special. But what was really special about it? What set it apart? I'm having a difficult time answering this. (And I also have this nagging suspicion that, somewhere in all of this - as with the online sets, Topps is testing the market. I just wish they hadn't here.)
Like I said, I suppose I should be grateful for what I received - and with certain titles I truly am. I just wish it was a bit more bountiful.
Rob
(Sorry for the "wordy" post!)